The use of monoclonal antibodies in therapeutic applications is gaining increasing acceptance.
One such group of monoclonal antibodies, of murine origin, is BR55-2 or fragments thereof having the same specificity and their variants, disclosed in e.g. Wistar EP 0 285 059, which also discloses their preparation and their use in the detection and therapy of, basically, adenocarcinomas and similar tumors. The BR55-2 class of antibodies recognizes the difucosyl blood group antigens Y-6 and B-7-2 normally associated with adenocarcinomas.
The etiology of small cell lung carcinoma is rather obscure but unrelated to malignancies of epithelial origin such as adenocarcinomas. Indeed, monoclonal antibodies known to exert an inhibitory effect on the development of adenocarcinomal malignancies are normally without effect on small cell lung carcinoma cells, and vice-versa, while a few monoclonal antibodies have been alleged to recognize both types of cells.